How to Market to Millennials

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A new generation is quickly becoming the focus of current marketing strategies, leaving traditional advertising behind. Millennials, those born between 1977 and 1995 (approximately), currently make up over a quarter of the population in the United States. This means there are over 80 million Millennials in the United States alone.

This generation is starkly different from previous generations as they are the first to grow up with technologies like computers, cell phones, and the internet. This technological difference is reflected in the Millennials' likeliness to be early adopters of new technologies; they are 2.5 times more likely to adopt new technologies compared to other generations.

Millennials are a tech-savvy generation that spends on average 25 hours online per week, carry their smartphones everywhere, and are the most active generation on social media.

But what does this mean for your marketing?

The benefits of marketing to Millennials are great and the risks of not doing so are dire.

Millennials account for over 20 percent of all consumer discretionary purchases, which equals over a trillion dollars in direct buying power. Millennials are quickly becoming the generation with the most buying power and will be by 2017. Couple this with the fact that Millennials have a massive influence over older generations and you have an audience for which your marketing efforts should be optimized. Choosing to stick to traditional marketing methods and not adapting to the preferences of Millennials is a costly mistake that can cause brands to fail.

Millennials are a generation looking for something more in their marketing and related purchases. Typical selling approaches will not work on a generation that expects personalization and relevant, informative information. This generation puts importance on the cause behind the brand, with half of all Millennials being more willing to buy if their purchase supports a cause and will even pay more if the purchase supports a cause they believe in.

Meaningful, inbound marketing is king with Millennials who look to connect and share with businesses and their peers on social channels. Over 70 percent of Millennials feel a sense of responsibility to share feedback on both good and bad experiences with a company. And, they look for these same reviews when they are considering a purchase.

User-generated content, reviews, tutorials, and so on, are what Millennials are looking for when considering your brand. In fact, this generation is three times more likely to look to social media for opinions than any other generation.

Are you active on social media? Do you encourage consumer reviews and opinions? Are you actively engaging with your audience?

These are all things that change your marketing to appeal more to the generation that will soon have the most buying power. Outbound marketing doesn't cut it anymore; many Millennials say outbound is too impersonal and company-focused. In order to succeed, businesses need to understand the Millennial generation with its tech-savvy knowledge, interest in user-generated content, and desire for meaningful engagement.

Millennials are the generation of individuals, craving personalization and content specific to their needs and interests. Blanket marketing and generic email blasts aren't going to engage this generation. Instead, focus attention on maintaining a strong, interactive social media presence, offer content that aims to teach and inform, and make a concerted effort to promote customer opinions and reviews.

Millennials aren't the only ones that can utilize new technology to aid in their day-to-day lives. As a brand trying to connect on a more personal level, a marketing automation platform is the perfect solution to increase personalization and communications while decreasing the daily workload.

Offer all your leads and customers personalized content, stay on top of social media, and utilize email, SMS, and voice channels to communicate with them. Sign up for a free 14-day trial of SimplyCast 360.